CES 2024 shows AI is more likely to help humans than replace them

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) provided its annual demonstration of breakthrough technologies in Las Vegas last week, and, as usual, it did not disappoint in that it demonstrated some of the most interesting and innovative solutions to modern life’s unique collection of obstacles.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was one of the dominant themes at the event. Each year in modern times at least, CES has provided a platform for the introduction of products and concepts which utilise AI and 2024’s offering was no different.

The recent introduction of the EU AI Act has shown that it is very much within the public conscience that the development of AI provides us with ethical difficulties especially where AI interfaces with human life. However, CES 2024, if anything, seemed to demonstrate that many of the applications of AI are set to assist humans rather than replace them or make their lives difficult. In this note I wanted to discuss some of my personal favourites from my review of the event:

Assisting the Visually Impaired

GUIDi from AI guided provides an AI enabled smart belt. It deploys MEMs and AI technology to provide personal navigation and can operate without the internet or GPS. It utilises multiple techniques using cameras, sensors and haptics to provide navigation assistance to those with visual impairments. It utilises AI to enable the user to set destinations and the belt will assist users with that journey.

AI Guided, in their launch video, say users will not just survive but thrive!

Helping us to Sleep Like a Log

Motionsleep showed their Motion Pillow. This device takes an active approach to assisting with a user’s sleep . It utilises AI to detect a user snoring to inflate the airbags within. This is used to adjust the position of a user’s head to improve their sleep quality. It also tracks snoring patterns to draw inferences about sleep health and how it can be improved.

A trial conducted using the pillow has shown that it can reduce snoring, and no doubt reduce arguments too.

Mercedes Benz Hyper-personalise User Experiences

Mercedes Benz is frequently at the forefront of the automotive industry when it comes to in-car experiences, and this year they demonstrated how they are looking to use AI to improve their MBUX system. The improved MBUX utilises generative AI to improve the user experience in order to make it hyper-personalised.

One example is the enhanced use of an avatar in combination with large language models to provide a more natural interface. The avatar uses movement, brightness, intensity and colour to provide more context to its responses. This means that a warning from MBUX can be conveyed more clearly as a warning, i.e. using an appropriate colour, or a response indicating something of interest to a user can be conveyed in a different tone to deliver a message more positively.

Helping Us Out

Whilst it is important, as with any technology, to ensure it is being used properly, AI does seem to attract more than its fair share of negative headlines. After all, anything has the capacity to be dangerous if it is used accordingly, and it is not just AI which can be exploited to negatively impact life.

However, CES 2024 has shown that many innovators are developing AI to assist in our day-to-day life. The examples given above are just three of the highlights and there are many, many more.

The Future

It is without question that next year at CES we will see more examples of how AI can be used to assist with our lives. It is expected that generative AI will take more of a central role as we look for a more natural interaction with our devices and the technology around us.

It is also likely, however, given the focus on the ethics around AI, that explainable AI will become a bigger part of technological development.

It is also likely in the next couple of years that we start seeing what Quantum Computing can offer when combined with AI. Quantum Computing has the potential to increase the amount of data computers can handle, and will no doubt enable the increased use of AI in data-heavy applications such as healthcare and autonomous vehicles. Meaning that any technology which can assist with processing large amounts of data will become just as relevant to our day-to-day lives.

If you are developing technology using AI, and want to know more about the patentability of your technology, then do not hesitate to contact us.